1. she is strong. A Ukrainian girl can do anything. Everything from the word "absolutely". Horses on the gallop is her least achievement. Pay the mortgage, please; run a marathon, please. To make a career in Kiev, then in Paris, then in New York - oh, what is so hard. Ukrainian girls keep the world. Seriously.

2) She is caring. Ukrainian girl children wear two hats, her husband always has a sandwich in his work bag. She has time to drop off medicines for her sick grandfather and an hour to talk to her aunt Sonya, who has no one else to discuss the cat's character, the weather and the quality of the yarn. No one will hide from the Ukrainian girl if she wants to do good.

3 She is patient. Agree, Ukrainian girls can be patient for years. Anything. Go-da-mi. And then, one day, bang, and that's it, patience is over. In a situation like this, it's better to temporarily evacuate to a safe place.

4. she's brave. Skydive? Tell the truth to someone everyone is afraid of? Sing while everything around her is on fire and black smoke rises to the very heavens? It's all been there.

5.She's proud. You don't have to do a Ukrainian girl any favors, she'll get her own.

6.She's emotional. She can cry bitterly, of course, and say that it's all over, and that there is no future, and that life is nothing. But not for long. Our inner sun comes out earlier than others. And in about thirty minutes, everyone is warm again, everyone feels good, everyone is happy. It's just that we don't need to be pestered for that half hour. You're not trying to talk a raging tornado into "calming down" and "understanding that there's no reason to be upset."

7. She's thrifty. The Ukrainian girl keeps her grandmother's set, a big fishing encyclopedia (no one knows whose it is), on the entresol jam, one ski (just in case there is a second!), a suitcase full of UN flags from some conference (just in case they come in handy!)

8. She is generous. If need be, if the moment comes, a Ukrainian girl will give everything she has. In 2004 my mother took her old fur coat to the Maidan, and in 2014 we took out the whole house: from warm clothes and canned goods to medicine and money. And no one regretted or doubted for a second. We knew we couldn't do otherwise.

9. She is beautiful. Words are not necessary here. I remember one of my acquaintances, a Swede, went out to Khreshchatyk and sat on a bench for three days. He could not believe that these were not specially trained models, but average Ukrainian girls.

10.She is made of love.
You deserve the very, very, very, very best and a little bit more.